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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: perch · capital · shower · fall · roll · leaves · mouse · kid

  1. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  11. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. leaves — lets stay
  2. kid — to tease
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. kid — child
  5. fall — to drop
  6. roll — a list
  7. shower — rain
  8. leaves — to go away
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. roll — a cake
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. capital — a city
  13. mouse — for a computer
  14. perch — the fish
  15. shower — to wash
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. fall — to drop
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. capital — money
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. fall — the season

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com